ELSA HAAS, CERAMIC ARTISAN
Welcome to the Cercle des Créatrices Inspirées where I meet sunny women to discuss creativity, self-confidence and entrepreneurship.
Margaux: During confinement, pottery was my moment of escape and disconnection. This is when the idea of creating an art object was born. I then met Elsa Haas at Clay Atelier where she gave turning lessons: I was one of her students! Elsa is sweet, attentive, caring & patient - but also determined, hardworking and passionate. Quickly, I realized that our friendship story was just beginning. In this interview, Elsa reveals to us what led her to leave a well-trodden path to devote herself to her passion, ceramics, and what convinced her to embark on this ambitious collaboration with ŌKAN. I hope it will inspire you, too, to go after your dreams and your ambitions!
Margaux: Can you introduce yourself?
Elsa: I am a ceramist in professional retraining. I have been doing this job full time for three and a half years. I did a one-year school course which really taught me the basics of ceramics, knowing everything about all the lands, turning, modeling, but also how to create a workshop. And here I am today in this workshop.
Margaux: How did you get here?
Elsa: I've always wanted to do something with my hands. But I told myself that a manual job was not a real job, that you couldn't earn a living like that. Instead, I opted for art history studies. I evolved in this environment for a few years and then I did a filming internship about ten years ago and it was love at first sight. I decided to make it my job.
Margaux: What are your sources of inspiration?
Elsa: I have always been very drawn to nature. My grandmother taught me the names of plants, the names of trees. We did a lot of gardening together. Nature is therefore a great source of inspiration. I like that the earth speaks for itself and I like its color. On the shapes of my pieces, I would say that it is rather the architecture that will inspire me.
Margaux: Why did you choose a creative profession?
Elsa: When you create, you have a kind of freedom: it's very important to me. I don't feel trapped in a frame from which I couldn't get out. It is I who fix my frame. There is also this feeling of well being when I put my hands in the ground. I feel like I belong. That's what keeps me going.
Margaux: Did your relatives support you in your retraining?
Elsa: My partner really believed in me and he helped me get started. It seemed so so obvious, so easy for him, that it became so for me. He convinced me that I could do it.
Margaux: Why did you agree to collaborate with ŌKAN?
Elsa: I accepted this project because I wanted to experiment, to do something which remains in my universe but which does not resemble what I do. I could see it was going to be difficult to do. But I said to myself: "I go there, I jump and I try. Margaux, I love her universe, I love her jewels. I think that a Collab together, it could really work."
Photo credits :
Jeanne Perrotte for photos and video shooting - editing ŌKAN STUDIO
Elsa is wearing the 5 Rings Ring , the Hoops and the Pendant from the ITO Edition.
Discover the ITO vase - on pre-order until July 15th.
